The list of Republican hopefuls for the 2024 presidential nomination keeps growing, but so does their timid silence whenever the topic of Donald Trump comes up. His political vulnerabilities are out there for the world to see, a gigantic target just begging to be exploited after his arrest Tuesday on charges related to hush money payments to a porn star and two other individuals.
In normal times, something like this would spark a mad scramble among challengers to see who could denounce him the loudest. And yet all but one candidate, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, are cowering in silence or are offering unconvincing, boilerplate condemnations of the politics behind Trump’s prosecution. No one wants to speak about the most tawdry aspects of Trump’s behavior, which include allegations of extramarital affairs with porn star Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal.
Their silence speaks for itself. The candidates are afraid of Trump and, perhaps more so, retaliation from his base. So instead of speaking out in favor of the values that have long guided Republican orthodoxy — values that Trump has trampled on with reckless abandon — those candidates have decided simply to change the subject.
Trump’s well-documented extramarital affairs and dalliances with the likes of Daniels and McDougal have the effect of associating the Republican frontrunner with unbridled promiscuity and sexual experimentation, which the party keeps trying to associate as liberal proclivities that lead to unplanned pregnancy, abortion and gender fluidity.
So while GOP lawmakers across the country try to shut down abortion clinics and rally support around hardline stances against school books that explore issues of sexuality, the front-page news of Trump’s past behavior is sending the opposite message. So why aren’t Trump’s challengers exploiting it?
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was willing this week only to venture a condemnation of Trump’s indictment and pledge not to cooperate in his extradition. Then came this timid rejoinder: “I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to a porn star to secure silence over some type of alleged affair.” He doesn’t know, or doesn’t want to say?
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who like DeSantis is undeclared, also condemned Trump’s indictment but steered way clear of the root issues of the case. He did state somewhat ominously this week that he would not appeal a court order to testify before a grand jury regarding Trump’s efforts to reverse the 2020 presidential election result.
The net effect is to let Trump off the hook while undermining any effort by top challengers to distinguish themselves as viable alternatives to a Trump candidacy. Polls indicate that most Americans, including more than a fifth of Republicans, agree with Trump’s indictment.
Americans, regardless of political alignment, seem to have a built-in revulsion for cowardice. And cowardice is on parade among the top Republican presidential contenders behind Trump.
